Infatuated (hsau)

chapter 82.

°°
And I'm gonna keep on lovin' you
'Cause it's the only thing I want to do
°°

Harry Styles

I took Harlow upstairs, carried her up in my arms and gently placed her down on top of the bed as I pulled her leggings down her legs, being careful of the painful looking burns on her ankles presumably caused by rope. Still she was wearing her poker face and that's how I knew she was hurting, because normally she blushes when I do this.

What did he do to my precious birdy?

After carefully pressing my lips against her forehead, I quickly rushed to the bathroom to turn on the shower so that it won't be cold for us when we get in, and I pulled the clothes off my top half as I'm wandering back to her. She's still sitting on the edge of the bed all sorrowful, eyes so heavy and her skin so pale.

"Can you lift your arms for me? Or is it too sore?" I ask her, however she just shrugs her shoulders and keeps her eyes focussed on the wooden floorboards of my bedroom floor.

Usually someone shrugging their shoulders at me when I ask them something really angers me, but right now it causes me a whole new rush of sadness. Harlow never fails to answer one of my questions and if it involves my undressing her, she's usually asking a million of them herself. Right now she's even too exhausted to do that, and it hurts to see.

With a sigh, I crouch down in front of her and bring my hand up inside her sweater, being careful not to touch her skin as I'm not sure where her sore rib is. With one hand inside her sweater, my other lifts her arm up carefully so I can pull it from the sleeve of the jumper. Somehow I managed to get both arms out the sweater without her crying out in pain, which is a goddamn miracle.

When I stand up to pull the sweater over her head, the second I start bunching it up from the bottom her eyes look straight into mine for the first time in too long, and she looks terrified.

"You're okay, promise." I whisper, "you're so beautiful, always."

A single tear escaped her eyes and then she closed them, dipping her head down slightly. Her hands held each other in her lap and I could see her digging her fingernails into the palms of her hands like I've noticed she does when she's nervous.

I gently pull the jumper over her head and place it down on the bed behind her before reaching to hold her hands and stop her from hurting herself. Her body is bruised and on one side of her chest just under her bra there's that blue and green mark forming, I'm guessing from the broken rib she says she has.

Seeing her sit there in her underwear, eyes closed and skin paler and void of all life, my heart begins to ache. I'm absolutely over the moon that I found her, but she's still so lost. This isn't her at all, and it hurts.

It doesn't matter though, because I don't love her any less. The girl I fell in love with is still in there somewhere and she'll come back eventually, I'll be here waiting until she does.

I stand up to kick my jeans off and then reach for her hands again, pulling her up to stand. When she does, I pause for a second so that she doesn't pass out and then guide her through to the warm bathroom with the running shower.

Harlow is very much like a ghost right now. She won't talk and she won't move unless I help her, but I don't mind, I'll do this forever if it means I get to keep her in my life.

I spin her round carefully and hook my fingers into the back of her bra to undo the fastening and then gently push the straps down her pale arms. The fabric drops to the floor silently and then I pull my boxers off and kick them over to the same pile. My lips meet her shoulders for a second to plant a reassign kiss before I crouch down and start removing her underwear.